Happy Casmir Pulaski Day

As anyone in who grew up in Illinois (especially around Chicago) know, today is the day for celebrating the founder of the American Calvary, Polish hero, Casmir Pulaski. For the second year in a row, we are celebrating with Casmir Pulaski as an honorary US Citizen.

The story of Casmir Pulaski is an interesting one. A founder of the Bar Confederation, the first Polish Uprising, he was forced to flee Poland after being accused of organizing an attempt to kidnap the King of Poland. Ben Franklin recruited him to America. He then wrote General Washington that he came to America “…where freedom is being defended, to serve it, and to live or die for it.”. He was involved with battles for over two years, from his first battle at the Battle of Brandywine, where his is credited with saving the life of General Washington to the Second Battle of Savannah where he was mortally wounded, he trained the horseman, even recruiting many of them himself. In 1929, Congress declared October 11 of Pulaski Day for his efforts. Two years ago they went a step further, naming him the seventh Honorary Citizen.

When ever I’m asked why I don’t think english needs to be the national language, I think of the fact that Casmir Pulaski did everything he did, without ever learning english. Na zdrowie.